Former Nationwide Guardsman faces allegations that he leaked quite a few labeled nationwide safety paperwork on-line.
The US Air Nationwide Guardsman suspected of leaking labeled nationwide safety paperwork on social media has entered a not-guilty plea to federal felony prices.
Jack Teixeira, 21, appeared earlier than a federal courtroom in Worcester, Massachusetts, on Wednesday, a number of days after he was indicted by a grand jury on six counts of willful retention and transmission of nationwide defence info.
Standing subsequent to his attorneys in an orange jail uniform, Teixeira responded, “Not responsible, your honour,” because the choose learn out the fees towards him. A trial date has but to be set.
Teixeira is accused of posting pictures and transcribed copies of sensitive material on the social media discussion board Discord, revealing nationwide safety intelligence associated to the conflict in Ukraine and different navy pursuits.
After the leak and Teixeira’s arrest in April, the Biden administration rushed to guarantee allies that the US is ready to safeguard its nationwide safety secrets and techniques.
Teixeira is being held in a federal jail in Plymouth County, south of Boston, as he awaits trial. A choose denied a bid by defence attorneys to rethink the suspect’s detention order.
“The essential factor is Jack will now have his day in courtroom,” his household stated in a press release on Wednesday. “We’re hopeful that Jack will probably be getting the truthful and simply therapy he deserves.”
Investigators imagine that the younger man was the chief of a personal Discord chat group titled Thug Shaker Central, the place members shared jokes, their favorite types of guns and views on worldwide conflicts.
The justice division has additionally stated that Teixeira had a historical past of disturbing feedback on-line. In November, for instance, he posted that he want to see a lot of folks killed in a “culling of the weak-minded”.
Authorities say that Teixeira, who labored as a navy IT specialist of types, started sharing navy secrets and techniques with the group in January.
Questions have been raised about how the federal government confers safety standing to personnel — and why Teixeira was capable of entry such delicate supplies. Memos filed in courtroom present that Teixeira had been reprimanded on a number of events for mishandling or improperly viewing labeled materials.
In a press release launched final week, US Lawyer Basic Merrick Garland stated Teixeira had been given entry to info that “fairly may very well be anticipated to trigger exceptionally grave harm to nationwide safety if shared”.
Every rely Teixeira faces comes with a most sentence of 10 years in jail, which means that he might face a most of 60 years in jail.
The US authorities has a historical past of zealously pursuing those that share nationwide safety secrets and techniques, even when they’re deemed to be of public worth or expose authorities wrongdoing.